You’re the blessed, We’re The Spiders From Mars…
Reading through the BowieNet message boards and indeed some of the fan site boards too, it seems that those of you that have been lucky enough to get David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72 early are more than pleased with both the packaging and the remastered sound.
Uncut magazine and NME in the UK have already given the album very favourable reviews, (05.24.2008 NEWS: FOUR STAR SANTA MONICA REVIEW IN UNCUT & 06.26.2008 NEWS: NME GIVES LIVE SANTA MONICA ’72 8 OUT OF 10) and here are excerpts from three more that I?ve found online…
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Here, the Spiders sound otherworldly, lean yet monstrous, simple and lethal on “Hang on to Yourself” but majestic and dramatic on a ten-minute “The Width of a Circle,” flipping a hat to Jacques Brel via Scott Walker on “My Death,” then stripping down such grandiose Hunky Dory tunes as “Life on Mars?” to the essentials.
What’s special about this is that a night like this was indeed captured — and with each passing year this seems more and more like the best Bowie live album.
With guitarist Mick Ronson in his pomp and the band racing on adrenaline, many of the superbly recorded 17 songs are at least equal to their studio versions. The occasional unwelcome tape splice doesn’t stop Bowie sounding thrillingly possessed, whether reaching out in Rock’n’Roll Suicide to tell an alienated generation “You’re not alone!” or asking for “pliers, or a strong hand” in a voice so unearthly it could be from a seance.
Make no mistake. This is a work of major significance that should not be passed over. ESSENTIAL.
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Stay tuned for David Bowie ? Live Santa Monica ?72 contest news which will start today and end on Friday with different items every day.